This book describes the changing landscape of European forest ownership and explores the impact a new, often urban, generation of forest owners may have on the future of one of our most basic resources - forests. Forests have not played a major role in rural studies thus far, however they constitute an important part of many rural areas. Drawing on Swedish cases and comparison cases from various other areas of Europe, the authors present these 'new forest owners' as a pivotal factor in the changing relationships between urban and rural life. The chapters explore how forest production, the relationship to the environment, urban-rural relations and local communities have already changed as well as discussing what might be expected for the future. A result of work in the Swedish research programme PLURAL and related projects, such as the EU Cost Action FACESMAP, this volume will be of interest to scholars of forestry and rural studies, as well as to researchers in environmental, population and globalization studies more broadly.

Mitigation will not be sufficient for us to avoid climate change and we will need to adapt to its consequences. This book targets the development of adaptation policy in European countries with different relations between central and regional/local government.

This book is an exciting reappraisal of the role and practice of biodiversity monitoring, showing how new technologies and software applications are rapidly maturing and can both complement and maintain continuity with the best practice in traditional field skills. Environmental monitoring is a key component in a large number of national programmes and constitutes an important aspect of understanding environmental change and supporting policy development. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Monitoring Biodiversity begins by discussing monitoring as an established field and examines the various budgetary and technological challenges. It examines different methodologies, the variation between countries, and the design features relevant to understanding monitoring systems created for new policy goals or different funding situations. The huge variety of methods revealed across 18 chapters, which vary from statistical designs to remote sensing, interviews, surveys, and new ways of stacking and combining data and thematic information for visualization and modelling, underlines just how mature and multifaceted the modern practice of monitoring can be. It concludes with several problem-based chapters that discuss the design and implementation of environmental monitoring in specific scenarios such as urban and aquatic areas. All chapters include key messages, study questions, and further reading. With a focus on Europe but with international relevance, Monitoring Biodiversity will be an essential resource for students at all levels of environmental monitoring, assessment, and management.

Climate Change and Flood Risk Management discusses and problematises the integration of adaptation to climate change in flood risk management. The book explores adaptation to climate change in relation to flood risk events in advanced industrial states. It provides examples of how flood risk management, disaster and emergency management, and adaptation to climate change may intersect in a number of European and Canadian cases. Taken together, the studies show that integration of adaptation in flood risk and emergency management may differ strongly - not only with risk, but with a number of institutional and contextual factors, including capacities and priorities in the specific municipal cases and within a national and wider context. The book will be relevant to researchers involved with adaptation to climate change and those involved with comprehensive planning in relation to it. It will also be of interest to academics within the fields of environmental studies and the environmentally-oriented social sciences. Contributors: J. Akermark, E.C.H. Keskitalo, M. Massie, M.G. Reed, P. Scholten, D. Shrubsole, M. Turunen, J. Vola, G. Vulturius, T. Vuojala-Magga

Climate change vulnerability assessment is a rapidly developing field. However, despite the fact that such major trends as globalization and the changing characteristics of the political and economic governance systems are crucial in shaping a community's capacity to adapt to climate change, these trends are seldom included in assessments. This book addresses this shortcoming by developing a framework for qualitative vulnerability assessment inmultiple impact studies (of climate change and globalization) and applying this framework to several cases of renewable natural resource use. The book draws upon case studies of forestry and fishing - two of the largest sectors that rely on renewable natural resources - and reindeer herding in the European North. The study represents a bottom-up view, originating with the stakeholders themselves, of the degree to which stakeholders find adaptation to climate change possible and how they evaluate it in relation to their other concerns, notably economic and political ones. Moreover, the approach and research results include features that could be broadly generalized to other geographic areas or sectors characterized by renewable natural resource use.

Climate change is affecting the Arctic environment and ecosystems at an accelerating speed, twice the rate of the global average. This is opening the Arctic to transportation and resource development and creating serious challenges for local communities and indigenous peoples.

Climate Governance in the Arctic considers two aspects of climate change from an institutional perspective. It focuses on how relevant regimes, institutions and governance systems support mitigation of climate change. It also examines the extent to which the varying governance arrangements in the Arctic support adaptation and the development of adaptation processes for the region. The book 's focus on Arctic governance offers unique insights within climate change mitigation and adaptation research.

Climate change vulnerability assessment-to assess people's overall vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change-is a rapidly developing field. However, despite the fact that major trends such as globalization and the changing characteristics of the political and economic governance systems are crucial in impacting and shaping a community's capacity to adapt to climate change, these trends are seldom included in climate change vulnerability assessments. An applied methodology and framework for qualitative assessment of vulnerability based in the present and on people's own perceptions of their realities has so far largely been lacking. This book addresses these shortcomings in that it first develops a methodology and framework for qualitative vulnerability assessment in "multiple impact" studies (of climate change and globalization), and then applies the framework to several cases of renewable natural resource use across scales. The book draws upon case studies of forestry and fishing-two of the largest sectors that rely on renewable natural resources-and reindeer herding in the European North, and includes data from some sixty semi-structured interviews and seven stakeholder meetings. The study represents a bottom-up view, originating with the stakeholders themselves, of the degree to which stakeholders find adaptation to climate change possible, how they conceive of climate change, and how they evaluate it in relation to their other concerns, notably economic and political ones. It illustrates that local vulnerability and adaptive capacity are to a large degree a result of international and national governance, that much of the adaptive capacity for local areas lies at higher, even international, levels (which the local level has limited or no influence on) and that not even a "traditional" practice such as indigenous reindeer herding can be understood outside of international market systems. Moreover, the approach and research results include features that could be broadly generalized to other geographic areas or sectors characterized by renewable natural resource use. The book constitutes highly informative reading for professionals, academics and students concerned with the human dimensions of global environmental change, environmental governance and natural resource management.

This book is an exciting reappraisal of the role and practice of biodiversity monitoring, showing how new technologies and software applications are rapidly maturing and can both complement and maintain continuity with the best practice in traditional field skills. Environmental monitoring is a key component in a large number of national programmes and constitutes an important aspect of understanding environmental change and supporting policy development. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Monitoring Biodiversity begins by discussing monitoring as an established field and examines the various budgetary and technological challenges. It examines different methodologies, the variation between countries, and the design features relevant to understanding monitoring systems created for new policy goals or different funding situations. The huge variety of methods revealed across 18 chapters, which vary from statistical designs to remote sensing, interviews, surveys, and new ways of stacking and combining data and thematic information for visualization and modelling, underlines just how mature and multifaceted the modern practice of monitoring can be. It concludes with several problem-based chapters that discuss the design and implementation of environmental monitoring in specific scenarios such as urban and aquatic areas. All chapters include key messages, study questions, and further reading. With a focus on Europe but with international relevance, Monitoring Biodiversity will be an essential resource for students at all levels of environmental monitoring, assessment, and management.

This book describes the changing landscape of European forest ownership and explores the impact a new, often urban, generation of forest owners may have on the future of one of our most basic resources - forests. Forests have not played a major role in rural studies thus far, however they constitute an important part of many rural areas. Drawing on Swedish cases and comparison cases from various other areas of Europe, the authors present these 'new forest owners' as a pivotal factor in the changing relationships between urban and rural life. The chapters explore how forest production, the relationship to the environment, urban-rural relations and local communities have already changed as well as discussing what might be expected for the future. A result of work in the Swedish research programme PLURAL and related projects, such as the EU Cost Action FACESMAP, this volume will be of interest to scholars of forestry and rural studies, as well as to researchers in environmental, population and globalization studies more broadly.

Mitigation will not be sufficient for us to avoid climate change and we will need to adapt to its consequences. This book targets the development of adaptation policy in European countries with different relations between central and regional/local government.

Climate change is affecting the Arctic environment and ecosystems at an accelerating speed, twice the rate of the global average. This is opening the Arctic to transportation and resource development and creating serious challenges for local communities and indigenous peoples.

Climate Governance in the Arctic considers two aspects of climate change from an institutional perspective. It focuses on how relevant regimes, institutions and governance systems support mitigation of climate change. It also examines the extent to which the varying governance arrangements in the Arctic support adaptation and the development of adaptation processes for the region. The book 's focus on Arctic governance offers unique insights within climate change mitigation and adaptation research.